TOPIC: Talana

A clasp inscribed "Talana" will be granted to all troops under Lieutenant-General Sir W. Penn Symon's command on October 20th, 1899, who were north of an east and west line drawn through Waschbank Station.

On the mountainside the battle raged, there was no stop or stay;
Mackin captured Private Burke and ensign Michael Shea,
Fitzgerald got Fitzpatrick, Brannigan found O'Rourke;
Finnigan took a man named Fay and a couple of lads from Cork.
Sudden they heard McManus shout, "Hands up, I'll run you through,"
He thought it was a Yorkshire Tyke - 'twas Corporal Donaghue!
McGarry took O'Leary, O'Brien got McNamee,
That's how the English fought the Dutch at the Battle of Dundee.

Estimated that upward of 30.000 Irish troops fought in the war on the British side. Numbers vary for those on the Boer side- maybe 300 in two commandos (under Blake and Lynch) and 1.200 scattered through the Boer forces.

At Talana were both Blakes Boer commando (sometimes called MacBrides - he raised it but Blake led it)and the Royal Dublin Fusiliers and Irish Fusiliers.